Morning Ethics Warm-Up, 7/11/2018: Baseball! Football! Idiots!

Good Morning!

1. Important stuff first: All-Star Game ethics. The final slot for the two All-Star teams is being determined today, and everyone should want to remedy the egregious injustice of Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Jesus Aguilar being left off the National League squad so far. You can vote for him here, and as many times as you want: the polling will be closed at 4 pm EST.

Aguilar is the victim of parochial fan voting and the rule that requires at least one player from every one of the 30 teams. Still, his omission would be a travesty. As of today, he leads the National League in home runs, slugging, and OPS (on-base pct. plus slugging) and is a leading candidate for MVP, especially if the surprising Brewers win the NL Central, where they currently lead with the best record in the league. His 2018 performance so far dwarfs that of, for example, Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper, voted onto the NL starting line-up by clueless fans.

2. These are your opinion-makers, America! On “The View,” Loudmouth Ignoramus Joy Behar was discussing the Merrick Garland episode with slumming legal expert and Martha’s Vineyard pariah Alan Dershowitz, who will next be appearing on “Family Feud,” I suppose.

“[The Republicans] stole the first member of the Supreme Court,” opined Dershowitz. “Absolute theft. Unconstitutional. I’m a little critical of President Obama, for whom I voted. He should have nominated Merrick Garland and should have sworn him in. The Constitution says advise and consent. It doesn’t say delay and postpone.”

Behar then asked, because she is an idiot, “Well then how come Mitch McConnell is not in jail? That’s what I want to know.”

“You want to put everybody in jail,” Dershowitz responded.

“I want to put him in jail,” Behar said.

Said Dershowitz, “I’m against putting people in jail unless they’ve actually committed crimes. I know that’s a radical position.”

“The View” is on ABC five days a week, and has been for more than a decade. I wonder how much it has lowered America’s collective civic literacy and IQ? I think I’m afraid of the answer.

3. The NFL Anthem Protest Ethics Train Wreck update. The NFL players union has filed a grievance over the league’s anti-National Anthem protest policy. (Even in the sympathetic news reports,, exactly what is being protested is left vague, as in Politico’s “racial and other injustice in America, particularly police brutality.” In related developments, former NFL cornerback Brandon Browner has been charged with four felonies, including attempted murder, and in a particularly revolting turn of events, former Portland Trail Blazers star Kermit Washington was sentenced this week to six years in federal prison for spending almost a million dollars in charity donations on vacations, shopping sprees and plastic surgery for his girlfriend.

You see, professional athletes are not paragons, especially good citizens, or valid role models, especially NFL and NBA athletes, among whom are too many drug abusers, felons and dead-beat dads to count. They have no good justification to hijack sporting events to be special platforms for their half-baked social policy nostrums, and they should not be indulged. Let them protest the same way other badly-educated, politically naive and biased citizens do: on their own time.

4. And a Confederate Statuary Ethics Train Wreck update! Jerry Richardson’s tenure as founder and owner of the NFL Carolina Panthers came to an end with his selling the team to David Tepper. Richardson was forced out after allegations of abusing workplace conduct including sexual harassment and racial slurs, and the NFL fined him $2.75 million after an investigation. Tepper, however, announced that this hideous statue of Richardson in front of the stadium would remain:

The decision is being assailed by #MeToo-ites and the same breed of historical airbrushers and revisionists who cheered the removal of Tom Yawkee’s name from Yawkee Way. Nonetheless, the Panthers are right, for the same reason that the Boston Red Sox were wrong. Richardson’s unethical treatment of employees and others is irrelevant to his contributions to the community, which owes him now and forever for leading its first NFL team. Yes, many, many MANY important men in national and local history were bigots and pigs—they were important nonetheless, and their positive achievements are no less positive because of their failings elsewhere.

Why would it even be necessary to publish such an opinion piece? Who in their right mind thinks voting isn’t just for citizens, I mean, outside of California? Well, Boston’s infamously leftist City Council, that’s who, though the “in their right minds” part is up for debate. Council President Andrea Campbell says that “All members of a community should have the right to participate and be included in the governance of that community.” Like a lot of intentionally sweeping generalities, this one sounds grand, and makes no sense. Many people belong to multiple communities, depending on how you define “member.” Should they vote twice? Boston has lots of students who are citizens in other states. Should they all get a vote in Bean Town? The initiative to allow non-citizens—including people with green cards, legal permanent residents, visa holders, Temporary Protected Status recipients, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients and refugees granted asylum to vote is co-sponsored by councilors Josh Zakim, Ayanna Pressley, Lydia Edwards, Annissa Essaibi-George, Ed Flynn, Kim Janey and Michelle Wu, every one of whom should be forced to wear a bag over their heads.

Campbell says she wants to signal to immigrants that Boston is welcoming to them.

Ugh. The dearth of common sense, competence and responsibility on display here is staggering. Immigrants are already welcome: welcome to do what is necessary to become citizens, which means committing to this nation, its values and its mission. The right to vote is the highest privilege of citizenship. Boston wants to devalue it, meaning all actual citizens will be losers.

Are Democrats worried that the prophesied “Blue Wave” is increasingly less likely to occur? Or are they worried that’s it’s going to be more like a “Blue Dripping Faucet”? This is obviously a maneuver to pad the votes on the Democrat ticket.

Regarding 2: They’re claiming the league’s policy violates their collective bargaining agreement. I have no idea what the agreement contains, but it seems like a distinct possibility that there’s a clause limiting the league’s ability to prohibit expressive conduct by the players. That could give rise to a situation where the general rule (a private employer can prohibit protesting at the job site) is overwritten by the specific rules of the agreement.

Such a case would be analogous to a Homeowner’s Association- the general rule states that my neighbors can’t limit my ability to put up weird decorations or paint my house strange colors, but many HOAs contain such clauses. If I signed on to such an HOA, stating the general rule “The house is my property and I can paint it orange on my dime” wouldn’t hold true.

On point 1.
As you aptly stated today Alan Dershowitz should have also stated not to inflame and defame as was the case in Bork’s nomination. One could say that nomination was stolen as well.

The Senate was supposed to be the deliberative body and not a means to divide the republic. Perhaps Schumer and McConnell should remind their respective members of that fact. Although I don’t much blame McConnell though given the animosity toward Republican nominees. One must use the tools at hand that were agreed to in advance. Advice and consent requires people of goodwill to evaluate qualifications fairly. I always laugh when Schumer says the person is unqualified because he passed the nominators litmus test.

1. Tried to vote, but the site is down. I smell a rat, and (upon reflection) have no sane reason to smell one. Sign if the times that the first thought is ‘someone did this on purpose!’

2. Not sure this was unconstitutional. Not holding a vote was ‘advising’ that the candidate was unacceptable, in a fashion. Terrible choice, but unconstitutional?

Joy thinks she should be able to sentence anyone she wishes to jail for any reason she deems appropriate. This is not uncommon on her side of the aisle, and is a good reason to get progressives away from the levers of power.

Dersh is trying to get invited back to those Martha’s Vineyard parties, and is willing to do anything to be forgiven.

3. The players union should have let this die. Keeping it alive will suppress NFL revenues next fall, as in, ‘the hand that feeds them.’ Of course, unions, by and large, don’t care a bit for what is in their member’s best interest, and have not for a long time.

4. If ever a statue needed to be protested… and the guy on it should have been first in line.

5. This little stunt is a trial balloon for the nation. If they cannot pass this in Boston, after all… Democrats are desperate to pad the ballot box for their side, especially after 2016 when voters (you know, those who Democrats wish to represent?) rejected their party.

5) Just to be clear, for those of you who didn’t read that editorial. The editorial is protesting the City Council proposal to allow city voting by non-citizens.

At least not everyone in Boston thinks this is a good idea. I guess that’s sort of a good thing.

This is somewhat related to Trump’s claim that there were millions of illegal voters in the 2016 election. From what I’ve read, no one actually has any idea how many there might be, because the idea is dismissed out of hand without ever investigating it.

We simply don’t know if there are any non-citizens voting, or if there are hundreds of thousands or millions. Personally I doubt if it is millions, but I think it is a non-trivial number.

Human nature dictates that illegal aliens vote. There is a lot to gain, and no downside from their perspective.

They are already stealing an identity, in many cases, an identity that can register to vote in another state with impunity, since states don’t comb their own rolls, much less compare their rolls to other states.

Plus, I have seen it with my own eyes. Just like I have seen snowbirds bragging about absentee voting in their blue home states while standing in line to vote in mine.

Judging by the comment section, this site is a progressive playground.

I have heard that the player was running down the shoulder when he ran out of room, placing himself in front of a line of patiently waiting cars. That does not excuse any bad behavior (though I doubt there were racial slurs involved: what he did was enough to enrage anyone) on the part of the ‘white’ guy, but brandishing a gun is illegal in Texas.

I am betting that the ‘white guy’ (if he was white) was nowhere near as aggressive as described, and reacted to a rich asshole brake checking him after forcing his way into traffic. This fits the profile of ‘gun owner arrested while other guy walks free.’

Get a car camera: I am looking for one now. Watch a few Youtube videos about aggressive drivers (the Russians are crazy!) and you will become a better citizen while driving. I did.

The NRA defends against laws that infringe on the Second Amendment. This guy broke the law regarding brandishing a weapon. The enforcement of that law does not infringe on his rights under the Constitution.

Brandishing a gun is assault by definition. Absent verifiable mitigating circumstances, you will be prosecuted in Texas. The NRA approves of that prosecution, as it is a necessary and just law.

The rich guy’s lawyers can argue that he felt threatened (“in fear for his life”) in court: unless he can come up with more than ‘cuz I said so’ it will do little good.